Russia’s Investigative Committee has formally charged 36-year-old Denis Bakholdin with taking part, while living in Ukraine, in a Ukrainian organization “fighting pro-Russian supporters on Ukrainian territory”. The fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine could face up to six years’ imprisonment in this latest demonstration by Russia of its clear engagement on one side in the military conflict in Donbas. | детальніше

Belarus’s KGB (security service) has detained Pavlo Sharoiko, Ukrainian Radio’s correspondent in Minsk, reportedly accusing him of ‘spying’. Virtually no information is available about the arrest which comes in the wake of tension in relations between Ukraine and Belarus following the Russian FSB’s abduction from Belarus of Pavlo Hryb, a 19-year-old Ukrainian student. | детальніше

A ruling party MP in Russia has produced a video clip in which children enthusiastically sing of their willingness to ‘fight the final battle” for ‘Uncle Vova’, otherwise known as President Vladimir Putin. They also promise not only to hold on to Crimea which Russia has illegally annexed, but also to reclaim Alaska | детальніше

One Russian has been jailed for over three years, and another, extradited from Tajikistan, is about to be put on trial in Russia for taking part in the fighting in Donbas on the side of Ukraine. The FSB and Russian courts treat anybody supporting Ukraine as a ‘mercenary’, while notorious mercenary Arseny Pavlov [‘Motorola’] and other Russians who died fighting against the Ukrainian government are considered as ‘heroes of Donbas’ and even get their own official monument. | детальніше

Ukrainian filmmaker and Kremlin hostage Oleg Sentsov has spent several terms in a punishment cell over recent months, including a two-week punishment as soon as he arrived at the harsh ‘White Bear’ prison colony north of the Arctic Circle. Both the penalties and the transfer to this most isolated of all prisons are linked with the mounting protest in his defence in Yakutia. | детальніше

Having driven Ukrainian historian Stanyslav Klykh close to insanity through torture, psychotropic drugs and a Kafkaesque ‘trial’, Russia is now placing the 43-year-old’s life in danger. His mother reports that, instead of providing her son with proper diagnosis and treatment, they injected him with some unidentified medication which left him virtually in a coma for six days. | детальніше

Andriy Lugin, one of at least two Crimean prisoners who have slashed their throats in protest at being taken against their will to Russia, has addressed an open appeal to the Ukrainian government and international community on behalf of all Ukrainian prisoners whom Russia is illegally foisting its citizenship upon. | детальніше

Boris Stomakhin, a Russian writer serving a six-year prison sentence in Russia for supposed ‘extremism’ has been honoured ‘For Courage’ by the Andrei Sakharov Committee on Journalism as an Act of Courage. The Committee, posted Stomakhin’s 2014 article ‘Crimea is Ukraine’ in full. | детальніше

Russia has given almost half the Berkut officers suspected of involvement in the gunning down of protesters citizenship, and at least two men wanted for Maidan crimes jobs crushing protest in Russia. This is while at least two Ukrainians are illegally held on insane charges related to Maidan over which Russia has no jurisdiction | детальніше

Russia, which says Magnitsky’s death was a tragedy but denies allegations that he was abused while in custody, has undertaken an aggressive, multipronged effort in recent years aimed at discrediting Browder and the narrative underpinning the U.S. Magnitsky Act. | детальніше

While 19-year-old Pavlo Hryb’s doctor warns of potentially grave consequences if Russia continues to refuse the young Ukrainian proper medical treatment, the FSB is concentrating on circulating misleading information about the young man and the charges against him. Details are scant but quite sufficient to expose the serious flaws in the claims made. | детальніше

Russia’s Investigative Committee and FSB have arrested yet another Ukrainian on surreal charges linked with the Ukrainian nationalist organization ‘Right Sector’. Roman Terkovsky is accused of attending entirely legal Right Sector events in Ukraine and of promoting the organization on Facebook. | детальніше

Vladislav Surkov, advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin took part on October 16 in the ceremonial opening in Rostov (Russia) of a memorial to Russian or pro-Russian fighters who died in Donbas. The event was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of Russian mercenary Arseny Pavlov [‘Motorola’’], whom Ukraine had hoped to see on trial for war crimes, but whom Russia treats as a hero | детальніше

It seems very likely that the Kremlin’s most famous Ukrainian political prisoner, Oleg Sentsov, has been taken to the ‘White Bear’ Prison Colony ‘north of the Arctic Circle’. The place could not be more remote and unsuited for a Ukrainian accustomed to the warm climate of Crimea, and the prison has a reputation for brutality towards prisoners | детальніше

In direct breach of a request from the European Court of Human Rights, Russia has prevented Ukrainian doctors from visiting Pavlo Hryb in a Krasnodar SIZO [remand prison]. It seems likely that Russia is using Pavlo’s medical condition to put pressure on him and international attention is critically needed | детальніше

The European Court of Human Rights has still not received information about the medical treatment that 19-year-old Pavlo Hryb urgently needs, and has invited Ukrainian doctors to visit him. Meanwhile, it appears that the ‘terrorism charges’ which the FSB has kidnapped Pavlo to face are based solely on private correspondence on abstract subjects between two adolescents . | детальніше

Oleksandr Shumkov has become the latest Ukrainian to be abducted to Russia and imprisoned. There is a major question mark over how the 28-year-old civic activist came to be in Russia, but it would be difficult to dispute the surreal nature of the charges. The Ukrainian is accused of involvement in a Ukrainian organization that only Russia calls ‘extremist’, and that is entirely legal in Ukraine | детальніше